The Answer Is…
by badly-knitted
Summary: Dee is used to Ryo saying no. It's a word he's heard all too often over the years. Set throughout the manga and beyond, including BSP 1 and Like Like Love.


**Title:** The Answer Is…

 **Author:** badly-knitted

 **Characters:** Dee, Ryo

 **Rating:** PG-13

 **Setting:** Throughout the manga and beyond, including BSP 1 and Like Like Love.

 **Summary:** Dee is used to Ryo saying no. It's a word he's heard all too often over the years.

 **Word Count:** 1134

 **Written For:** My own prompt 'FAKE, Dee/Ryo, Five times Ryo said 'No' and one time he said 'Yes',' at fic_promptly.

 **Disclaimer:** I don't own FAKE, or the characters. They belong to the wonderful Sanami Matoh.

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When it came to what Dee wanted, Ryo said 'No' so often that Dee sometimes thought he was like a stuck record. The times he actually said 'Yes' to anything could be counted on one hand, which was probably why Dee was feeling so nervous and tongue-tied, hesitant about even asking. His mind drifted back over the years since he'd first met the man who would come to mean everything to him, mentally cataloguing all the refusals he'd had to endure.

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1.

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He'd practically invited himself along when Ryo decided to spend his vacation in England. Dee had never been there before, but he'd liked the thought of being so far away from New York with the man of his dreams. He'd even managed to bribe Bikky not to go, so he could have Ryo all to himself. Not that it had worked out that way in the end.

He'd been patient, hadn't pushed too much, just a couple of kisses and then left Ryo to think things through. Then Ryo had kissed him and all bets were off, except…

"No! No, no, no, no! Bad Dee!"

He'd thought he might manage to wear Ryo down, but then the cavalry had arrived in the form of Bikky and Carol, which had kinda killed the mood. And then JJ showed up, creepy hotel dude tried to kill Ryo, and things went downhill pretty fast after that. Some vacation.

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2.

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A couple months later, after the bombing at the orphanage when Mother was hurt so badly, Dee had ended up on house arrest for going after the man responsible after being ordered not to. And for the little incident where he would have killed the guy if Ryo hadn't stopped him. He'd nearly shot Ryo instead, had actually grazed him with a bullet, something he preferred not to think about too much.

Ryo had come to visit, bringing good news about both Mother and the orphanage, and how else is a guy expected to say thanks?

The pounce wasn't exactly a success; Ryo had tried to bolt.

"Noooo! How about we talk this over first?!"

Ryo must have left the front door unlocked though, maybe on purpose or maybe because he never seemed to remember stuff like that. Whatever. It just meant that when Carol dropped by for a visit, she could walk straight in.

There went Dee's plans again.

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3.

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How about after the precinct got bombed? They'd sat in Ryo's apartment for hours, drinking coffee, talking about this and that. Mostly about being stuck out at the Bronx station temporarily, at least until the 27th could be rebuilt. Ryo even seemed to have forgiven Dee for accidentally getting them both demoted back to traffic duties for a few days.

The atmosphere had been relaxed, Ryo had seemed so at ease, and then when he'd suggested that Dee stay over because his apartment was so much closer to the Bronx precinct than Dee's own…

It had seemed to Dee as if all his prayers had been answered, until he saw the expression on Ryo's face, the same confused, worried look he got so often when Dee tried to move things forwards. Damnit! Ryo didn't even have to say the words that time; the look in his eyes was enough to take all the wind out of Dee's sails.

Ryo apologised, even though it really wasn't his fault, but that was Ryo all over; too nice for his own good.

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4.

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When the truth about Ryo's parents' deaths came out, the shock knocked Ryo for six. He'd always been more emotional than Dee, but he'd never broken down like that. Not that Dee could really blame him after everything he'd been through, but still… Dee never knew how to deal with that stuff.

Afterwards, he'd been acting plain weird. Hell, he'd even come on to Dee, and it had killed Dee to turn him down, but he wasn't about to be used as a convenient distraction. Especially when he knew for sure that Ryo's heart wasn't in it.

Once he'd managed to snap Ryo back to his senses again though, having the man sharing his bed for the night had been too much temptation. Dee just had to test the waters, see if Ryo in his right mind might still be in the mood.

That was a resounding no. Actually, quite a lot of them, but in among all the refusals, one thing Ryo had said stood out in Dee's mind.

"I'm just not ready yet!"

Not ready yet. It was something to hang his hopes on.

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5.

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Not that things went all that smoothly even after they became lovers. Ryo could be kinda skittish when it came to sex. Like trying to persuade him that it was really okay if Bikky found out they were together.

Ryo was uncomfortable about having sex when Bikky was asleep in the next room, and even more uncomfortable at the thought that they might be overheard. Dee knew how easy it was to make Ryo blush, but had never seen him go quite so red before.

Suggesting that they go over to Dee's place instead had got a flat-out refusal.

"I can't leave my kid alone overnight!"

So that was out.

"It's alright to tell him about it…"

Ryo nearly went through the roof at that. "We're not talking to him about it!"

Yeah, skittish was definitely the right word for Ryo Maclean.

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1.

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It had been a long, hard road, but everything that had happened since they met had been leading up to this moment. Bikky was off to college in L.A. soon, Ryo would be alone, and he was bound to get lonely after getting used to always having the brat around. He'd admitted as much himself. Dee had the perfect solution, but he knew how stubborn and independent Ryo could be. Still, even though Ryo was bound to say no, sitting there on the floor of his newly enlarged apartment (okay, it was a work in progress, but he was getting there) Dee knew he had to at least make the offer.

"Why don't you move in?"

"What? You want me to move in here?" Ryo didn't even try to hide his surprise at the offer. Clearly living together had never even crossed his mind.

Dee went ahead anyway, giving Ryo all the reasons why it was a good idea. Might as well put all his cards on the table.

"I just got to thinkin'… About what you said, y'know, about getting lonely."

Ryo didn't reply and Dee slumped. Just as he'd expected really, he should know better by now than to get his hopes up.

Then Ryo finally spoke. "How about next month? You'll help me move in, won't you?"

And just like that, everything in Dee's world was suddenly perfect.

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The End


End file.
